1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a result of recent extensive distribution of personal computers to ordinary homes in the multimedia technology, there is an increasing demand to digitally record images and voice. By recording images as digital data, compatibility with computers is improved to allow easy processing/editing of data by the user.
Under such circumstances, digital still cameras and digital camcorders are known as means for digitally recording images. A semiconductor memory, a disk device, such as a floppy disk or the like, a magnetic tape or the like is used as a recording medium for such an apparatus.
Although randomly accessible recording media, such as semiconductor memories, floppy disks and the like, are not suitable for recording moving images because of some problems, such as the recording capacity and the like, these media are frequently used for recording still images because of excellent data retrievability. At present, magnetic tapes which can provide a larger recording capacity with a lower cost than semiconductor memories and the like are mainly used for recording moving images having a larger amount of data than still images.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of data retrievability, and compatibility with computers, recording of moving images in randomly accessible recording media, such as semiconductor memories and the like, is being attempted.
However, when recording moving images in a randomly accessible recording medium, it is difficult to perform a long-time photographing operation of moving images without performing any additional processing because of the above-described problem of the recording capacity. Accordingly, it is necessary to perform a photographing operation after securing a recordable vacant capacity by erasing recorded data or transferring data to another large-capacity recording device, such as a hard disk or the like.
At that time, the user must select data, for example, by reproducing recorded images and confirming the contents thereof. Hence, excellent operability of data retrieval is required. Particularly, when the recording capacity becomes insufficient during a photographing operation and unnecessary recorded data must be urgently erased, an appropriate photographing time may not be provided unless data to be erased can be promptly discriminated from data to be preserved, resulting in inconvenience to the user.
Conventionally, image recording/reproducing apparatuses, such as video cameras and digital cameras, are known as means for photographing images of an object and recording the photographed images in a recording medium, such as a magnetic tape, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk or the like. In contrast to silver-halide cameras, these image recording/reproducing apparatuses include image display means, such as liquid-crystal displays or the like, so that it is possible to confirm an image being photographed using the image display means, immediately confirm the contents of a photographed image at the place of the photographed operation, reproduce a recorded image and confirm the contents of the image, select an unnecessary image from among recorded images, and easily erase the selected image at the place of the reproducing operation.
As a result of recent technical innovation, the recording capacities of recording media, such as semiconductor memories, optical disks and the like, which are used in the above-described image recording/reproducing apparatuses as recording media tend to increase, so that the number of recordable images is increasing.
On the other hand, since these recording media are still expensive, the recording media are repeatedly used by transferring images recorded in the recording media to another large-capacity recording media, such as hard disks or the like, and then erasing the images recorded in the media, instead of preserving the photographed images in the recording media.
However, as the recording capacity of such a recording medium increases, an operation of retrieving a desired image from among a large number of recorded images becomes troublesome.
Particularly, when the recording capacity of a recording medium becomes insufficient during a photographing operation and it is necessary to erase images from among recorded images in order to secure a recording capacity for photographing new images, a photographing time may not be provided unless prompt retrieval can be performed in order to discriminate images to be erased from images to be preserved. Furthermore, when transferring images to be preserved to another large-capacity recording medium by selecting the images from among images recorded in the recording medium while confirming the contents of each image, prompt image retrieval and confirmation cannot be performed conventionally, a very troublesome operation for the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus and method which can solve the above-described problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus and method which can promptly retrieve unnecessary recorded data during a photographing operation of recording moving images in a randomly accessible recording medium.
It it still another object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus and method which has an image retrieval function with an excellent operability so as to promptly retrieve a desired image from among recorded images depending on a state of use of the apparatus.
According to one aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an image recording apparatus for photographing images and recording the photographed images in a recording medium. The apparatus includes image pickup means for picking up images, image recording means for recording the images picked up by the image pickup means in a recording medium, and retrieval means for performing a plurality of kinds of different retrieval operations in accordance with operational modes of the apparatus for the images recorded in the recording medium by the image recording means.
According to another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an image recording method for photographing images and recording the photographed images in a recording medium. The method includes an operational-mode setting step of setting an operational mode of an image recording apparatus, and a retrieval step of performing different retrieval operations in accordance with the operational mode set in the operational-mode setting step, when retrieving images recorded in a recording medium.
According to still another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an image recording apparatus for photographing images and recording the photographed images in a recording medium. The apparatus includes image pickup means for picking up images, image recording means for recording the images picked up by the image pickup means in a recording medium, and retrieval means, having a plurality of different kinds of retrieval conditions corresponding to respective operational modes of the apparatus, for selecting one of the plurality of different kinds of retrieval conditions in accordance with an operational mode of the apparatus and for retrieving images recorded by the image recording means in accordance with the selected retrieval condition.
According to yet another aspect, the present invention which achieves these objectives relates to an image recording method for photographing images and recording the photographed images in a recording medium. The method includes a selection step, having a plurality of different kinds of retrieval conditions corresponding to respective operational modes of an image recording apparatus, of selecting one of the plurality of different kinds of retrieval conditions in accordance with an operational mode of the apparatus, and a retrieval step of allowing to retrieve images recorded in a recording medium in accordance with the retrieval condition selected in the selection step.